Various and distinct types of office space dividing systems have developed over the years including demountable or movable partition systems which may include doors; post or pole-based systems; frame or panel based systems which do not use a post; and spine, beam or work surface height systems.
In a movable wall or partition system, which systems usually extend from floor to ceiling, office furniture and accessories, such as desks and storage units, are usually free standing. Although such systems provide a strong sense of territory or privacy, full height movable wall systems tend to be monolithic and the components cannot be used to provide substantial variety. When a full height system is adapted to support work surfaces and other accessories, such work surfaces and accessories are usually sized to suit a panel width rather than a user's needs, i.e., the items are supported by vertical slots at each vertical edge of the panels. Because accessories and work tops are limited in both size and location in such systems, a storage and inventory problem may be created for the user. Examples of movable wall or partition systems may be seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,018,019 and 4,251,968.
In a pole based system, such as disclosed in assignee's U.S. Pat. No. 3,762,116, space dividing panels having slotted standards at each vertical edge are attached to posts, such as by hooks disposed at the vertical edges of the panels and by cooperative hook-receiving cups on the poles. The poles have the advantage of providing "center line modularity", fixing the dimension for a string of panels regardless of how many branches are created at each pole. As discussed above relative to the movable wall systems, hang-on accessories must be sized according to panel width in order to be supported by the slotted standards at the vertical edges of the panels.
Most panel and frame based systems merely have gaps between the walls created by the frames to provide entry ways to offices, which does not provide a strong sense of privacy. Such gaps create problems in the distribution of electrical energy, as well as the routing of communications wiring. Frame based systems may increase the length of a string of frames at each branch from a linear string of frames, referred to as "creep", as they are usually not centerline modular. Most frame base systems tie the widths of hang-on accessories to the width of the frames, similar to the movable wall and post systems. Examples of frame based systems are in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,535,577 and 4,876,835.
A spine type system utilizes interconnected beams at work surface height supported by posts. While spine systems are able to provide large communication and electrical raceways at work surface height for electrical energy intense applications, and they often provide excellent horizontal furniture flexibility by connecting work surfaces at any location along the work surface height beam, they usually lack a strong sense of territory or privacy. Examples of spine type systems may be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,224,769; 4,771,583 and 4,883,330.
It would be desirable, and it is an object of the invention, to combine the advantages of the various types of systems, such as the strong sense of privacy of the movable partition systems, the center line modularity of the pole systems, the horizontal flexibility and electrical capacity of the spine systems, in a new and improved frame based office space dividing system, without offsetting disadvantages.